Duke women's tennis struggles in Pacific Palisades, shines at Princeton Invitational

Duke sent members to compete on opposite sides of the country this past week, with senior Ester Goldfeld and sophomore Alyssa Smith playing at the ITA Women’s All-American Championships in Pacific Palisades, Calif. while the rest of the team matched up against Princeton, Columbia and others at the Princeton Invitational in Princeton N.J.

Although the West Coast was not kind to Goldfeld and Smith, the Blue Devils fared much better at Princeton, posting a record of 20-4 throughout the three days of matches. The doubles partnership of Rachel Kahan and Rebecca Smaller went a perfect 4-0, keeping the pair undefeated in doubles on the season. Duke’s representatives at Princeton were rounded out by senior Annie Mulholland and freshman Samantha Harris, who combined for three wins in doubles and seven in singles.

In California, Duke lost all three matches despite strong performances by Goldfeld and Smith. They began the tournament as the second seed in the qualifying bracket for doubles but were upset by a duo from San Jose State. Goldfeld went on to play in the main draw for singles where she won her first set in a tiebreaker, only to drop the next two to Breaunna Addison of Texas. The senior ended her play at the tournament with a straight sets loss in the first round of the consolation draw to Brianna Morgan of Florida, an eventual semifinalist in the consolation draw.

The dominant performance at Princeton was highlighted by stellar play by freshmen Rebecca Smaller and Samantha Harris, an encouraging sign for the future of the team. Although both Smaller and Harris are international students, hailing from London and Melbourne, Australia, the two clearly are life-long citizens of the tennis courts.

The pair showed as much, performing like veterans with consistency and competence throughout the three-day event. In singles, Harris didn’t drop a set en route to four victories, capped off by the double bagel she served up to South Carolina’s Katie Fosnacht Sunday.

Not to be outdone, Smaller has shown that she’s developed a great amount of chemistry already in this young season with her doubles partner Kahan. The pair has yet to lose after gritting through a close final match which was decided by a 15-13 tiebreak after the Duke duo was dueled to a 7-7 deadlock by a team from Pennsylvania.

The success of the freshmen is a product of excellent guidance from seasoned seniors like Kahan, Mulholland and Goldfeld. Kahan has racked up two all-ACC selections, and Mulholland owns a career 17-2 record in singles within the conference. Goldfeld has been an all-ACC player throughout her three years at Duke which indicates that she will quickly shake off her rough performance in California last week and regain her form going forward.

The squad will bring their games much closer to home starting Thursday at the ITA Regional Tournament in Chapel Hill, N.C., where Blue Devil Beatrice Capra took home first place in singles last year. Thanks to the momentum built up at Princeton and the combination of senior guidance and freshmen excellence, chances are one of Duke's talented players will find a way to defend Capra’s title this week.